Jumper's Knee

Jumpers knee (or) patellar tendinitis is an over use injury (or) trauma to the extensor mechanism of knee results from jumping or running commonly seen in basket ball and foot ball players.

Symptoms:

• Pain at the bottom and front of the kneecap, especially when pressing in.
• Aching and stiffness after exertion.
• Pain when you contract the quadriceps muscles.
• The affected tendon may appear larger than the unaffected side.
• May be associated with poor Vastus medialis obliquus (VMO) function
• Calf weakness may be present

Treatment

This depends on the extent or grade of the injury:

Grade 1: Pain only after training

• Continue training but apply ice or cold therapy to the injury after each training session. Cold therapy can be applied by by ice massage or the use of ice packs. It is important the cold is applied at the point of pain on the tendon.
• Wear a heat retainer or support.
• See a sports injury specialist / therapist who can apply sports massage techniques and advise on rehabilitation.
• An eccentric strengthening programme is generally recommended.

Grade 2: Pain before and after exercise but pain reduces once warmed up.

• Modify training activities to reduce the load on the tendon.
• Stop jumping or sprinting activities and replace them with steady running or swimming or running in water if necessary.
• See a sports injury specialist or therapist who can apply sports massage techniques and advise on rehabilitation.

Grade 3: Pain during activity which prevents you from training or performing at your best.

• Rest completely from the aggravating activity. Replace it with swimming or running in water (if pain allows).
• See a sports injury specialist/therapist who can apply sports massage techniques and advise on rehabilitation.

Grade 4: Pain during every day activities which may or may not be getting worse.

• Rest for a long period of time (at least 3 months!).
• See a sports injury specialist/therapist who can apply sports massage techniques for patella tendonitis/tendinopathy
• and advise on rehabilitation.
• If the knee does not respond to rehabilitation then consult an Orthopaedic Surgeon as surgery may be required physiotherapy
• Quadriceps muscle strengthening program: in particular eccentric strengthening. These exercises involve working the muscles as they are lengthening and are thought to maximise tendinopathy recovery.
• Muscle strengthening of other weight bearing muscle groups, such as the calf muscles, may decrease the loading on the patellar tendon.
• Ice packs to reduce pain and inflammation.
• Massage therapy-Transverse (cross) friction techniques may be used.

dear therapist
any one please tell me where i will get review of literature about physiotherapy for sacroiliac dysfunction
laxmi

Laxmi, you may be interested to know that about twenty years ago , I began treating those presenting with so called jumpers knee, sometimes called patello femoral syndrome , retro patella bursitis, etc by mobilising L3 on the side of the knee problem. This must be done continuously untill the stiffness and protective tightening at this joint is relieved. By doing so the inflammatory event of the facet joijnt and its adjacent nerve is resolved and the symptoms at the knee are entireley andf permanently eliminated. In therapeutic hindsight then we can say that when this happens ( almost always ) the PFS problem has been shown to be a referred event , mediated by irritation at the L3 ( femoral ) nerve root.
In most cases , this problem is complete;ly resolved over one to three treatments , without attention to the knee at all. VMO function is restored without exercise , swelling and pain goes within twenty four hours ( effects on pain are instantaneous, most can squat through full range after one treatment without pain ) after the first treatment and it is an entirely satisfactory conclusion to an otherwise vexing and intransigent problem. I recommend next time you have a PFS patioent , you palpate and attempt to mobilise L3. I would be happy to help you further with the method if you wish . This has been working well as my first line method now since that time .

that sounds really interesting.....will be glad if u could help me with the technique...

hello laxmi.... just try www.kalindra.com hope it helps

go to Rehabedge and look in the manual therapies section under "continuous mobilisation "

thank u!!!

Additonal info on "eccentric exercise" to treat chronic patellar tendinitis can be found at Eccentric Exercise Protocol

It describes a programme of eccentric exercise that reduces the risk of relapse compared to more aggressive protocols.